Your Rubicon

The word "Rubicon" has been resonating with me for several weeks now. The history of the word refers to a river with the same name that Julius Caesar and his army crossed while getting ready for a battle. Caesar and his army knew that once the river was crossed, there was no going back. The same word can also metaphorically mean a line that someone crosses when once crossed there is no going back to where you came from. This can imply many things in a human being's life including a choice in moving towards a healthier life style, career change, major life change etc.

Remember, with the Rubicon, once you cross over that line, there is no going back. This is a huge commitment in my mind yet I feel it applies to where we are at in public education. The Covid 19 pandemic has obviously disrupted pretty well everything in our world. Culturally, economically, educationally to name a few items. In terms of education, it has knocked us around for over six months now. Last Spring, we were defiantly in a triage mode with remote learning and the like. We pushed and limped along until the last day and collectively breathed a sigh of relief that it was all over. But... It really was not. Here we are, heading into the 2020-21 school year and the virus has reared it's ugly head even more so than last Spring. In our district, we have been planning for a return since school got out in late June and it appears as if we will be starting in a remote setting.

That being said, we are also planning for a hybrid model as well as traditional. I believe we, in public education have been forced to reach our own rubicon. For many years now, I have thought and expressed that our system needed to change in a grand way. We continue to build schools in the same way we have for 200 years It consists of one big building with a lot of smaller buildings inside. Don't get me wrong, there have been massive amounts of reforms, programs, plans and the latest and greatest "sexy" way of doing things in education but I feel we at times have missed the big picture.

Take a hard look at society, values, technology and a whole array of other things that swim past us at class 4 rapid speed and compare it to how our school systems are set up. We are still attempting to set school up in a traditional way when students are moving past us (the traditional school system) in the express lane. Now don't get me wrong, I do not always think some of the activities (huge amounts of screen time, etc) is the best way to use a child's time but I also know we in the system are becoming less relevant to students. They have quickly outgrown the systems we have had in place for many many years. I feel we are in a competition and are being left behind.

Back to the rubicon- What if, just what if, this virus is going to force us to do business differently from here on out? What if, even when humans gain the upper hand on Covid 19 our systems have irreversibly changed for the better? I think the fruit on the tree is ripe and ready to be picked. I feel offering a new Hybrid approach to education is where we could be heading. I do feel and have massive experience in this arena that personal, human contact is critical between students and staff members. We will have a huge amount of challenge dealing with and working on social emotional skills from a tele therapy setting. Could we though, offer some in person schooling as well as tele- school? Could our current system morph into something more flexible with various and flexible schedules for students and families? I for one would like to see us try.

That being said, my head is truly swimming at the moment. Getting students with special needs in a position of success during a total remote time is challenging but what if we collectively put our heads together and thought outside of the box? Educators are problem solvers and thinkers. We are always trying to find a better way. Perhaps this is the time where we can make a hard lined decision, cross our own rubicon and never look back.